Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Through Thick and Thin ❯ According to Plan ( Chapter 4 )

Attempted humour. You are warned.

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--THROUGH THICK AND THIN--

--Chapter 4--

--According to Plan--

"Well Bra, what should we get? What do you think she'd like?"

"Clothes!" the six year old shouted enthusiastically, smiling widely at her brother.

Trunks shook his head in amusement. I should've guessed, he thought. "All right, lead the way."

Bra led her brother through the mall, her short height allowing her to weave around people easily. Trunks, on the other hand, was battling his way through the busy crowds.

"Come on, Trunks," Bra said impatiently, stopping in the middle of the crowd and stamping her foot. People seemed not to notice her as they parted and walked around her.

Trunks pushed past a tall man, who had numerous packages and bags in his arms, and approached his sister. "Bra, I can't get past these people as easily as you can," he pointed out with a frown.

"Well, that's the store," Bra announced, dismissing her brother's complaint without a word. She pointed through the crowds and across the aisle to a sign that read Ranjeri. Trunks stood on his tip-toes, but couldn't see over the people's heads into the store.

Trunks shrugged and followed his sister as she walked through the people effortlessly, the lavender haired boy falling further behind with every step. Finally escaping the suffocating crowds, Trunks entered the store behind his sister. It took him a moment for his surroundings to register and he took a step back when he saw where he was.

"Bra! This is a lingerie store!"

Bra turned around and frowned at him. "It's a bra and panty store," she corrected. "Why?"

"It's a woman's store!" he hissed.

Bra raised an eyebrow at hi, as though his last statement had been the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. "Trunks, we're buying Mama's present here, not Papa's. Now come on!"

"No! Bra!" Trunks protested, but his sister was already leading him into the store by the hand. The sales clerks gave him strange looks and one particularly ditzy one dropped a hanger as he passed by.

Bra walked over to a counter and pulled something off of it. She held it up for her brother to see. "What about this? Do you think Mama would like it?" she asked, looking at the lacy garment.

"Bra, that's a bra!" Trunks growled quietly. "Put it back! Let's get her some clothes!" He looked around nervously. If anyone he knew saw him in here...

"Excuse me.... Can I help you with something?"

Trunks turned around to see a beautiful woman standing a few feet away, gazing at him expectantly. Her eyes were a blue so deep they appeared purple and her hair was a platinum blonde, brushed so it shone. Her lips were full and a deep, natural ruby. Her eyebrows were perfectly sculpted; he couldn't be sure if they were waxed or had come packaged with her perfect, unblemished face. She was no doubt an employee, if the name tag on her shirt was any indication, and she was eyeing Trunks with disapproval.

The teenager could feel his ears going hot with embarrassment, and he could only imagine how red his face had gotten. "Actually no," he said, forcing himself to remain calm. "We were just leaving." Trunks grabbed his sister's hand and proceeded to drag her out of the store.

With a sigh, Bra threw the bra back onto the shelf and allowed herself to be pulled along behind her older brother. Once apart of the bustling crowds once more, Bra turned and waved to the employee before rushing off to the next store.

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"I thought you were done your Christmas shopping, Trunks," Bulma said as her two children returned home that evening.

"Uh... I just needed to pick up some last minute things," he lied. He motioned for Bra to follow him with a nod of his head and the two of them exited the room, leaving Bulma to sit in front of the television alone.

"Can I help you wrap them?" Bra inquired as they hurried up the stairs.

"Duh. That was the idea," Trunks replied, rolling his eyes. Bra seemed to miss Trunks' tone as she grinned and clapped her hands in delight.

"I want to use the green paper with the po'nsettias on it for Papa's!" she informed him with exuberance.

"Be quiet!" Trunks whispered harshly. "Mom knows that we've both already gotten Dad's presents. Do you want to make her suspicious?" He kicked open the door to his room and dumped the bundles he was carrying on the floor.

"Sorry," Bra apologized, though it was far from sincere.

Trunks ignored it and pulled out his mother's present. "Bra, run downstairs and grab the wrapping paper and tags," he instructed and Bra rushed out of the room with a nod.

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"There!" Bra said as she sat back on her heels and admired her wrapping. It wasn't the neatest wrapping one could find, but it covered every inch of the gift well enough. "Now what, Trunks?" she asked.

"Now," he said, "we're going to put the presents in a place where they'll look like they're hidden but can be found easily."

Bra looked confused. "Why would we wanna do that?"

Trunks frowned at his sister. "I told you the plan."

"But-" she started, then stopped with a sigh. It was obvious that he wasn't about to explain it again. "So where are we gonna put Papa's present?"

"That's easy. The kitchen."

"Why not the Gravity Room?" Bra asked curiously.

"Because," Trunks said on a sigh, "it'll look like it was put there to be found, since it's obvious he'll find it. We don't want that."

Bra nodded slowly, only half understanding the older boy standing nearby. Trunks rolled his eyes and shook his head at his younger sister. Ignoring it, Bra carried on. "Where are we going to put Mama's?"

Trunks shrugged. "I don't know about that one. How about the lab?"

Bra shook her head after a moment. "No.... If she doesn't see it, it might get blowed up or something."

Trunks nodded thoughtfully. Though slim, something getting blown up was always a possibility in the Briefs' household no matter how careful everyone may be.

"How about the laundry room?" Trunks suggested. "If Mom doesn't see it then Grandma definitely will, and if Mom's name is on it then she'll bring it to her."

Bra smiled and clapped. "That's a great idea!"

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What's this? Bulma thought, and she pulled the decorated box from its hiding place on the floor beside the dryer and the wall.

She recognized her daughter's wrapping immediately, and she frowned. Everyone's finished their wrapping for this year, she thought. What could this possibly be? She turned the box around in her hands in search for a tag. Upon spotting it, the box nearly fell from her hands to the hard cement floor of the laundry room. It was addressed to her in Vegeta's unmistakable, practically illegible scrawl.

Is this really from Vegeta?

Without thinking, Bulma tore the decorative paper off the box and let it fall to the ground. Using a nail, she cut through the tape that sealed the box shut and opened the flaps. Her eyes went wide as she saw what was inside, and she smiled warmly, tears of joy and forgiveness springing to her eyes.

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As he pulled the cereal box off the top of the fridge he noticed a small box, obviously wrapped by his daughter.

What a retarded place to hide a present, Vegeta snorted as he reached up and removed it from the fridge. His name seemed to jump out at him from the tag taped to the top of the small box and he frowned. He thought it looked a little like the woman's writing.

He ripped the festive paper off the box and threw it to the floor. He recognized the container inside; it was the package dinocaps were sold in. They were all over the lab.

A capsule? he thought, his face darkening in question. With a shrug he opened the box and found that it wasn't a dinocap at all, rather something stashed inside the small container. His eyes widened slightly in surprise. He no longer doubted that this was from the woman; who else knew?

A smirk curved his lips upward, though it wasn't his usual smirk of victory and triumph. It was a smirk of gratitude.

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Trunks looked up at the knock at his bedroom door. "Coming," he said, as he paused the game he was playing on the computer, and got up from his chair. The knock came again, this time louder and almost excitedly. "I'm coming!" he shouted, scowling. Doesn't anyone have any patience?

He opened the door and his sister almost ran him over as she bounded into the room. "They found them! They found them!" she cried as she jumped up and down, her voice on the verge of an excited shriek.

"Well, that was the plan," Trunks said, grinning. "Have any of them said anything?"

"I don't know," Bra answered. "I didn't see Mama open hers, I only saw the wrapping on the floor, but I saw her go in there. Papa just smirked."

Trunks nodded. "Well, hopefully everything will go as planned. Now, I'm kind of in the middle of a game; can you go?"

Bra frowned but complied, and she waltzed into the hall, closing the door behind her. As she turned the corner to go to her own room she spotted her mother, an almost dreamy expression on her face.

"Hi, Mama," Bra said.

"Hello, dear," Bulma replied on a sigh. "Do you know where your father is?"

"He was in the kitchen a couple of minutes ago," the little girl answered. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason. I just wanted to ask him something."

"Oh...." Bra turned away and continued down the hall to hide her smirk.

From his bedroom, Trunks, too, was smirking. He had heard every word and the affection radiating from his mother's voice was crystal clear. Well, he thought, returning to his game, it seems everything is going according to plan.

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A/N: Soooo... how was it? I'm so evil, aren't I? Not telling you what the gifts were *laughs maniacally* *cough hack*. You'll find out next chapter.

Oh, btw... ranjeri means 'lingerie' in Japanese ^-^;;;